Vaccine against Clostridium perfringens

Abstract

There is provided a vaccine for controlling Clostridium perfringens in animals, and particularly necrotic enteritis in poultry. The vaccine may comprise a C. perfringens antigenic polypeptide or variant thereof, a nucleic acid encoding the C. perfringens antigenic polypeptide or variant thereof, or a recombinant cell producing the C. perfringens antigenic polypeptide or variant thereof.

We claim: 
     
       1. An immunogenic composition for inducing an immune response against  C. perfringens  in an animal comprising an isolated  C. perfringens  secreted antigenic polypeptide, a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, and an adjuvant, wherein the antigenic polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9, and SEQ ID NO:16. 
     
     
       2. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein the antigenic polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9 and SEQ ID NO:16. 
     
     
       3. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein the antigenic polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. 
     
     
       4. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein the antigenic polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2. 
     
     
       5. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein the animal is a bird selected from the group consisting of chicken, turkey, goose, duck, pheasant, quail, pigeon and ostrich. 
     
     
       6. The immunogenic composition of  claim 5 , wherein the bird is a chicken. 
     
     
       7. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein said secreted antigenic polypeptide is comprised within a recombinant cell with the proviso that the recombinant cell is not  C. perfringens.    
     
     
       8. The immunogenic composition of  claim 7 , wherein the recombinant cell is a bacterial cell. 
     
     
       9. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , further comprising a preservative. 
     
     
       10. The immunogenic composition of  claim 9 , formulated for intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, intranasal, intradermal, intrabursal, in ovo, ocular, oral, intra-tracheal or intra-bronchial delivery. 
     
     
       11. A feed additive comprising the immunogenic composition of  claim 1 . 
     
     
       12. A method of immunizing or treating a subject against  C. perfringens  induced necrotic enteritis comprising administering an effective amount of the immunogenic composition of  claim 1  to a subject. 
     
     
       13. The immunogenic composition of  claim 1 , wherein the animal is a pig or cattle. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12  wherein the subject is a pig, cattle or bird. 
     
     
       15. The immunogenic composition of  claim 13 , wherein the animal is cattle.